Table of Contents

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Japanese General Social Survey, 2000 (ICPSR 3593)

Principal Investigator(s):
Tanioka, Ichiro, Osaka University of Commerce;
Iwai, Noriko, Osaka University of Commerce;
Nitta, Michio, University of Tokyo. Institute of Social Science;
Sato, Hiroki, University of Tokyo. Institute of Social Science

Summary:

This survey, based on the General Social Survey in the
United States, was designed to solicit political, sociological, and
economic information from people living in Japan. Questions on crime
and the judicial system queried respondents about the death penalty
and the appropriateness of punishments given to juvenile and adult
offenders, whether respondents had ever been punched or beaten,
whether respondents had been victims of robberies within the last
year, and whether there was an area, within one kilometer of their
homes, where respondents were afraid to venture. Questions on family
issues covered topics such as when divorce was the best course of
action for those involved, the frequency that families dined together
and performed household chores, the health of respondents' marriages,
the roles of spouses within marriage, whether one or both spouses
should change their surnames, the ideal number of children a couple
should have, whether there was a sex preference for children, whether
the respondents had pets and the benefits of pet ownership, where
respondents would like to be buried, and whether in some cases,
physical punishment of children by parents or teachers was acceptable.
Questions on finances included items on the state of respondents'
finances during the last few years, how their family's income compared
to other Japanese families, how their family's income compared to that
of Japanese families 15 years ago, whether the income tax rate was
high, the amount of pension respondents would receive upon retirement,
how respondents' families organized their finances, and the ease of
improving one's standard of living in Japan. Political questions
addressed whether the government should be responsible for the
livelihood and medical care of the elderly, whether the government was
usurping individual responsibilities, whether respondents would vote
for a woman gubernatorial candidate, government spending, respondents'
commitment and sense of belonging to the political process, and
whether one of the government's duties was to reduce family income
disparities. Also, respondents were asked to rate their political
views on a scale from Conservative (1) to Progressive (5). In terms of
health, information was solicited on the health of respondents and
their spouses, whether a doctor should be able to painlessly end a
patient's life if the patient's condition was terminal, whether
respondents had signed organ donation cards, and the frequency of
smoking, alcohol consumption, and sexual relations in the last 12
months. Quality of life questions addressed the frequency with which
respondents read the newspaper, the average number of books
respondents read per month, the average number of hours respondents
watched television, whether respondents attended any job- or
hobby-related classes, the amount of satisfaction respondents received
from life, the frequency respondents went on trips lasting at least
two days, and how often respondents participated in leisure activities
like fishing, jogging, mahjong, etc. Respondents were asked to give
their opinions concerning a married person having sexual relations
with someone other than their spouse, sexual relations between two
adults of the same sex, whether pornography leads to the breaking down
of morals, whether the client, the teen, both, or neither party was
responsible for teen prostitution, and whether pornography should be
banned completely, not available to anyone under 18, or not be
regulated at all. Information gathered on religion included whether
respondents believed in life after death and whether they and/or their
spouses followed a religion and the extent of their participation.
Respondents were polled for information regarding their social status,
whether it was desirable for three generations of family to share a
home, whether men should learn to cook and care for themselves, the
trustworthiness of most people, the general motivations of others,
whether respondents were members of any groups like religious, trade,
or social service organizations, and to what degree respondents
utilized technology like computers, e-mail, and the Internet to
perform daily life tasks. Demographic information includes age, sex,
employment status, marital status, household income, and religious
orientation.

This survey, based on the General Social Survey in the
United States, was designed to solicit political, sociological, and
economic information from people living in Japan. Questions on crime
and the judicial system queried respondents about the death penalty
and the appropriateness of punishments given to juvenile and adult
offenders, whether respondents had ever been punched or beaten,
whether respondents had been victims of robberies within the last
year, and whether there was an area, within one kilometer of their
homes, where respondents were afraid to venture. Questions on family
issues covered topics such as when divorce was the best course of
action for those involved, the frequency that families dined together
and performed household chores, the health of respondents' marriages,
the roles of spouses within marriage, whether one or both spouses
should change their surnames, the ideal number of children a couple
should have, whether there was a sex preference for children, whether
the respondents had pets and the benefits of pet ownership, where
respondents would like to be buried, and whether in some cases,
physical punishment of children by parents or teachers was acceptable.
Questions on finances included items on the state of respondents'
finances during the last few years, how their family's income compared
to other Japanese families, how their family's income compared to that
of Japanese families 15 years ago, whether the income tax rate was
high, the amount of pension respondents would receive upon retirement,
how respondents' families organized their finances, and the ease of
improving one's standard of living in Japan. Political questions
addressed whether the government should be responsible for the
livelihood and medical care of the elderly, whether the government was
usurping individual responsibilities, whether respondents would vote
for a woman gubernatorial candidate, government spending, respondents'
commitment and sense of belonging to the political process, and
whether one of the government's duties was to reduce family income
disparities. Also, respondents were asked to rate their political
views on a scale from Conservative (1) to Progressive (5). In terms of
health, information was solicited on the health of respondents and
their spouses, whether a doctor should be able to painlessly end a
patient's life if the patient's condition was terminal, whether
respondents had signed organ donation cards, and the frequency of
smoking, alcohol consumption, and sexual relations in the last 12
months. Quality of life questions addressed the frequency with which
respondents read the newspaper, the average number of books
respondents read per month, the average number of hours respondents
watched television, whether respondents attended any job- or
hobby-related classes, the amount of satisfaction respondents received
from life, the frequency respondents went on trips lasting at least
two days, and how often respondents participated in leisure activities
like fishing, jogging, mahjong, etc. Respondents were asked to give
their opinions concerning a married person having sexual relations
with someone other than their spouse, sexual relations between two
adults of the same sex, whether pornography leads to the breaking down
of morals, whether the client, the teen, both, or neither party was
responsible for teen prostitution, and whether pornography should be
banned completely, not available to anyone under 18, or not be
regulated at all. Information gathered on religion included whether
respondents believed in life after death and whether they and/or their
spouses followed a religion and the extent of their participation.
Respondents were polled for information regarding their social status,
whether it was desirable for three generations of family to share a
home, whether men should learn to cook and care for themselves, the
trustworthiness of most people, the general motivations of others,
whether respondents were members of any groups like religious, trade,
or social service organizations, and to what degree respondents
utilized technology like computers, e-mail, and the Internet to
perform daily life tasks. Demographic information includes age, sex,
employment status, marital status, household income, and religious
orientation.

Study Description

Citation

Tanioka, Ichiro, Noriko Iwai, Michio Nitta, and Hiroki Sato. Japanese General Social Survey, 2000. ICPSR03593-v2. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2007-04-05. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR03593.v2

Universe:
Adult population of Japan aged 20-89 with the right to
vote.

Data Type(s):
survey data

Data Collection Notes:

The variables SHIKYOKU, CHITEN, and TASHO were
dropped from the latest versions of the data.

Japanese General
Social Survey data and the supporting documents are provided both in
English and Japanese for convenience for users of either language. The
JGSS is conducted in the Japanese language. The English version of the
questionnaires and datasets have been constructed for the convenience
of researchers. This is to remind all users of the English version of
the JGSS datasets and questionnaires that the nuanced meanings
conveyed in the original language may not be contained in the English
version of the questionnaires and datasets.

Version(s)

Original ICPSR Release: 2004-02-05

Version History:

2007-04-05 The study consists of two parts for the
same data. One dataset is in English and the other is in Japanese. For
each part there are SAS, SPSS, and Stata setup and ready-to-go
files. The variables SHIKYOKU, CHITEN, and TASHO were dropped from the
latest versions of the data. The questionnaire for the English
codebook was pulled from the codebook and made into its own PDF
document.

2004-07-02 The CASE.COUNT in the study description
has been corrected to reflect 2,893 cases and the codebook has been
revised to include new documentation.